When Wells and Cashner hit the DL on the same day in late April, the Cubs slim chances at grabbing a playoff spot disappeared. What we did not expect was the massive pile of fail that came in its wake…which doesn't even take into account the fact that Randy Wells probably came back too soon from his injury because the replacements were pitching so badly. Here are their stats (as starters)

Player

GS

ERA

FIP

xFIP

Casey Coleman

17

6.18

4.42

4.38

Ramon Ortiz

2

7.20

3.73

3.00

Doug Davis

9

6.50

3.86

4.80

Rodrigo Lopez

25

4.50

5.40

4.40

James Russell

5

9.33

7.88

5.31

TOTAL

58

5.91

4.90

too lazy

So, not good. This shitty performance counted for 35% of the Cubs starts this year, more than a third of all games played by the team. Some of these guys had a bit of bad luck by their ERA-FIP splits, but I think a decent chunk of that can be chalked up to shitty pitchers having their pitches tattooed.

If you're looking for any small ray of hope that the Cubs could contend this year, console yourself with the fact that it's very unlikely that the 2012 Cubs are going to give nearly sixty starts to sub-replacement level starting again this year.